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Baboon Marrow Transplant In Doubt

February 08, 1996|By Gary Borg.

SAN FRANCISCO — Bone marrow from a baboon implanted in an AIDS patient may have failed to graft onto his system, doctors said Wednesday.

But the AIDS patient, 38-year-old Jeff Getty, is doing "surprisingly well," perhaps due to chemotherapy, said Dr. Steven Deeks, who performed the transplant at San Francisco General Hospital on Dec. 14.

The bone marrow was transplanted into Getty because baboons do not become infected with AIDS.

After two months, doctors have failed to find any clear signs of baboon cells, Deeks said. "At this point in time, the results are inconclusive but suggest that, if there are any cells present, there aren't very many of them," he said.